Sometimes It Takes a Dream to Wake You Up

10. Passthe honey

After Mrs. Figg had assured them that Ginny was OK, Ron gave Harry a good trouncing over several games of chess, and Harry introduced Ron to the evils of a muggle invention called television. They had expected the girls to come back down at some point. They waited well into the night for this to happen before finally giving up and going to bed.

The next morning, Harry, in jeans and a faded green t-shirt, and Ron, in a faded long sleeve work shirt with the sleeves rolled up and khaki shorts, managed to fix a huge breakfast which filled the kitchen table and began eating with great enthusiasm. Ron's practiced arms allowed him to grab food from every plate and not get his sleeves dirty. Even with his time at Hogwarts and the Burrow, Harry would probably never be accustomed to seeing a table full of food. He was too used to the sparse pickings at the Dursleys. He ate much slower than Ron, savoring every bite. Ron was already on his second plate when they heard the sound of someone coming down the stairs. Hermione came into the kitchen wearing a royal blue V-neck and khaki shorts just as Harry was pouring tea for himself.

"Tea, Hermione?"

"Mmm, yes, please," She somehow managed to avoid looking at both of them and continued not to look at either of them by studying the table offerings and her own plate. Ron was alternatively looking directly at her and indirectly at her through her reflection in the silver sugar bowl.

"Is Ginny coming down? Is she alright?" Harry asked as he filled her cup. He was trying very hard to maintain a serious expression and not give Ron away. Ron seemed very interested in Hermione's V-neck or perhaps something else in that general area.

"She's fine but she didn't sleep well at all I'm afraid. She's having a lie in this morning."

"Too bad. I was looking forward to talking with her."

Ron looked up from the sugar bowl, his voice full of concern, "You'll try to be sensitive won't you, Harry?"

Hermione clapped her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing aloud, Ron Weasley telling someone else to be sensitive was just too ironic. Harry looked at Ron in confusion before he remembered that Ron believed Harry was going to try and talk Ginny down from her crush.

"Er, I'll do my best."

Hermione recovered enough to ask, "Talk to her about what, Harry?"

"Uhm, her feelings about me," Which was pretty much the truth as far as both Ron and Harry were concerned, but then Harry also wanted to discuss his feeling for Ginny but chose not to volunteer that tidbit to the others just yet.

Hermione frowned wondering how Harry's feelings about her would play into a discussion of Ginny's feelings for Harry.

The trio continued to eat in silence. Hermione grabbed a few pieces of toast from the center pile and buttered them. Then she saw an item near Harry's elbow that she thought would go very well with the toast. She considered getting up and retrieving it herself but then decided that that was just silly, she shouldn't be that uncomfortable around Harry.

"Harry?" his eyes swiveled to her as he took a sip of from his cup. "Would you please pass the honey?"

Simultaneously, Harry and Ron choked on the tea they happened to be sipping at precisely that moment. Harry looked at Ron briefly before dropping his gaze to the center of the table to avoid Ron's eyes. Harry could feel the heat of blush rising up his neck, to his ears, and, finally, to his face. The expression on Harry's face screamed "Guilty as Hell!" and he made no effort to clean away the tea now dripping from his chin.

Ron looked at Harry with a very confused expression at first. Ron slowly wiped his own chin free of tea with the back of his hand. As he did this, his expression changed from confusion to comprehension. Ron's eyes widened until they were perfect circles and his jaw dropped almost to the table.

"Honestly, what's a matter with you two?"

"Here," Harry muttered as he passed over the bottle of honey not looking at either Ron or Hermione.

"You'll excuse me," Harry got up and left quickly.

Ron's wide eyes followed him out. His mind racing, 'He fancies her. He's dreaming about her too. Why didn't he say anything? Because he's too good a friend, he knew I liked her and didn't want to get in the way. But he knows I've got no chance with her, must not want to hurt my feelings. Could I deal with them being together? Could Ginny?'

"Well, that was very strange," Hermione was looking at the kitchen door as well.

"Yes, wasn't it?" Ron finished wiping his chin with his napkin.

Hermione was about to say something else when she again remembered she wasn't speaking with Ron and began to spread the honey on her toast with angry vigor. He looked over at her. She was so beautiful it hurt, but it was time to be just friends.

He took a deep breath, "I'm sorry Hermione. I really am. I got carried away with the letters I sent. Maybe you can forgive me at some point? I do hope you had a nice time in Bulgariaand I'm sorry if I did anything to lessen the experience for you. You certainly didn't need me sending horrible notes to you on holiday."

Hermione blinked. She was shocked. He sounded like he truly meant it, "Ron, if you go back and read my letters you'll never once see that I said I was going to Bulgaria. You just assumed it and you assumed incorrectly."

"You didn't go? But you and Victor?" Ron was incredulous.

"Are just friends."

"Like us?" 'Is that disappointment in her face?'

"Yes, like us," Hermione smiled but it faltered ever so slightly.

Ron couldn't breathe from the joy now surging through him. He felt like he had been kicked in the gut, but in a good way. Did he actually have a chance? With Krum out of the way all he had to worry about was...Harry. His soaring hopes came crashing down. Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived. Harry Potter, the Tri-Wizard Champion. Harry Potter, the next Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Harry Potter, his best friend. Even if Ron thought he could compete against the famous Harry Potter for her, he decided he wouldn't. Mates were mates. He, at least, could breathe again, though the air was now bitter.

"So since we're friends, you'll forgive me at some point?" Ron smiled at her, not quite with puppy dog eyes but close.

Hermione reevaluated her opinion. As gorgeous as he was when he was angry, he was a god when he was being sincere.

"I forgive you for the letters, Ron" 'But not for making me feel this way about you and not liking me back.'

"Thank you. I'm going to go see what's wrong with Harry. Leave the dishes when you're done. I'll get them later."

She returned his smile until he was gone and then closed her eyes and sighed, 'Nice legs and he does dishes too. I love him so much.'

*

Harry reached the top of the stairs and stared at the girl's bedroom door longingly before turning and going into his and Ron's room. He was dying to talk to Ginny but it was best to let her be and not push it. His face was mostly back to normal now but when he considered that Ron now knew something was up, the blush threatened to return. He jumped up to lay down on his bed and folded his arms behind his head. He closed his eyes and wondered if he should be happy or sad that the girl of his dreams (OK, the favorite girl of his dreams) was only about 10 yards away but separated by two closed doors. After all the letters, he had hoped they would be able to sit down and "figure a few things out" very quickly, but it almost seemed like she was avoiding him now. She hadn't fainted until she had looked at him. Did she not like what she saw? Was he that hideous?

"Harry, you in there?" A soft knock and Ron's voice caused Harry to grimace. He did not want to talk with Ron at the moment, especially if he wanted to talk about the honey, but Ron poked his head in the door and, seeing that Harry was indeed in the room, entered it. Ron walked slowly to his own bed and sat down with his arms locked straight and his hands on the gripping the edge. The length of his arms meant that his shoulders were now shrugged up against the bottoms of his ears.

Harry shook his head almost imperceptibly and resigned himself to the coming chat. He sat up and swung his legs over the edge of his bed to face Ron but he did not face Ron. Instead, he found a very interesting point on the floor to fix his eyes on.

Ron cleared his throat, "So."

Harry cleared his throat, "So."

Ron crossed his arms, "So..."

Harry reached under his glasses with his left hand and rubbed his eyes, "So..."

Silence.

Ron's feet began to kick the wooden rail of his bed softly, "So, honey was it?"

Harry coughed and finally looked at Ron with a weak smile, "Er, yes, honey."

"And Hermione."

"Er, yes." Harry's face had never been so warm or red in his life. He lowered his eyes once more.

"You fancy her then." It was not a question.

Remembering how he'd diffused a similar situation with Mrs. Figg, he forced himself to look back up from the floor directly into Ron's eyes, "No, Ron. I don't."

"But, but, how can you not? She's so beautiful, so smart, so caring, so wonderful, so brilliant, so damned bloody beautiful!" Ron now joined Harry in his red hued embarrassment as he heard his own declaration.

"I, well you see, I ..." 'Dig yourself out of this one, Potter. Where's a dark wizard or a horntail when you need one?'

"It's alright Harry. You two will be great together," Ron's mouth was smiling but his eyes were pathetically miserable.

It took a moment before it registered what Ron was trying to say and Harry really was touched that Ron would have tried to step out of the way for him. Harry knew he should make some sort of return gesture of equal nobility but he didn't. He laughed. He laughed hard. He laughed so hard he was in tears.

Ron's red color was now due to his anger rather than embarrassment. He again gripped the edge of his bed but this time to prevent himself from gripping his best friend's throat and throttling the laughter and the life out of him.

"Funny is it?" Ron asked through clenched teeth.

Harry held up an apologetic right hand and wiped the tears away with his left, "Yes. It is. I'm sorry Ron, but it is damned funny."

"And just why is that!" Again through clenched teeth.

"Because, you prat, she loves you! I'm not even in the running. No one else is. Not me, not Krum, not anyone else. You're just too damned thick to see it."

"But you like her, yes?" Ron asked in a worried tone.

"Not that way, Ron. Yes, I have had...certain dreams but come on, is Hermione the only girl you've dreamed about lately?"

"Uh, well, mostly it's been her," Ron grinned sheepishly. He flashed on the faces of Lavender, Padma and Pavarti, Katie, and Cho. He shuddered visibly when he got to Pansy's image.

"Well, there you go. It's just teen age hormones according to Madam Pomfrey."

Ron's head jerked up, "You talked to Madam Pomfrey about all this?! I can't imagine!"

"We owled some. I would never have been able to do it face to face. I needed help with nightmares and lack of sleep when the summer started." Ron nodded in sympathy, "She helped me with the nightmares but then the other dreams started. I was afraid I was having a reaction to the potions she sent. She assured me I wasn't. It wasn't easy to write to her about but I was really worried about it all. I guess I still am but it's normal apparently."

Ron shook his head in wonder, "Doesn't seem normal to me. I feel so out of control. So you're not interested in Hermione?"

"No," again Harry met Ron's eyes to make the truth very clear.

"Then is there anyone you do fancy? Someone else you've been dreaming about?"

"Uh," For what to him seemed the thousandth time today, Harry started to redden.

"Cho?"

"Oh, God no! After Cedric? You must be joking." Harry's tone made it clear that such a pairing was now actually revolting to him.

"Sorry," Ron winced as he absorbed Harry's words and obvious feelings.

But, being a guy, he continued, "Lavender?"

"No."

"Pavarti? Padma?"

"No and no."

"A Chaser perhaps?"

"No."

"Pansy?" This earned Ron an obscene gesture.

"Draco?" Which earned Ron a pillow in the face and a narrow miss to the head from an alarm clock.

"Who then?" Ron laughed.

'Slowly, Potter. Take it slowly.' "I'd like to keep who she is to myself until we ... until I figure some things out."

"I could help you."

Harry laughed silently in his mind, 'Not likely. You have enough trouble with Hermione, and I doubt you want to help find a way for me to snog your little sister silly.' "Can we leave it be for now, Ron? I think we're way over our quota for the man-to-man stuff today."

"Alright with me," Ron shrugged and then broke into a huge grin of happiness. He realized he was in the clear to try to be with Hermione.

The grin faded and he swallowed hard as a horrible, numbing terror caved his insides into a heavy leaden lump. He realized he was in the clear to try to be with Hermione.